


Dreams / Ambitions

by FireFaceOutlook



Series: SanLu Week, 2016 [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, Pre-Timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 16:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13344933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: "You are going to bounce back from any fight we get into, whether we win or we lose, and I'm not going to doubt myself, right?"





	Dreams / Ambitions

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: The first part (Sanji's part) is after the second One Piece movie, the Clockwork Island one. If you haven't seen it, I really suggest it. You don't have to watch it to understand this story, but there will be a couple references to the events that happened there and it's just a good movie in general. Anyway, enjoy the first day of SanLu Week~**

It was a quiet night upon the Going Merry. Everyone was asleep except Usopp, who was on watch, and Sanji. The Straw Hats had only departed from Clockwork Island a couple days before and they were still recovering from the fights they had engaged in. Sanji was finding it particularly hard to sleep, not that he'd admit it to anyone. His feet throbbed in agony whether he was on them or off and his head rang with the constant taunts from Bear King's lackeys. Sanji had never felt so humiliated, mocked for being weak and unable to protect or save himself, much less Nami-swan, who had been depending on him.

At the unpleasant reminder, Sanji chopped the fruit in front of him harder than necessary, coating the counter in juices he would have to clean up, lest he want to risk the appearance of bugs. He had taken to his kitchen after failing to do more than lay in his hammock, staring into the darkness. He had hoped that doing his favorite thing in the world, cooking, would calm his nerves, but while he was taking his frustration out on the food, it just allowed room for more anger to grow.

"Sanji…?"

The chef stopped in the middle of carving off a cantaloupe exocarp at the sound of his captain's voice.

"What are you doing up, Luffy?" he asked as he resumed his actions, putting the hard outer layer into a bowl to mix and use to make a seasoning of sorts at a later time. 

"It's my turn for watch." A yawn punctuated that statement.

Sanji sighed and set down his knife, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, along with his lighter, and taking the time to light one up before he turned to face the seventeen year old, who was hovering around the door

"Shouldn't you be out keeping watch, then?" he questioned, though he couldn't exactly make Luffy do anything; Luffy was the captain, after all.

"You're upset," Luffy said, as if that explained his actions. "I thought you'd feel better with some company."

"You thought wrong," Sanji replied flatly, turning back to his fruit and cutting them into smaller pieces.

"What's the matter?"

Sanji listened to Luffy walking past him and plopping onto one of the benches at the table.

"Nothing is wrong, Luffy," Sanji remarked, hoping that the other would just drop it.

There was a blissful silence for a few moments, and Sanji hoped fervently that it would remain that way. No such luck.

"Hey, Sanji?"

"Yeah?"

Sanji put all the sliced up fruit in a bowl separate from their rinds and exocarps and peels and mixed them together. Then he pulled out five smaller bowls, dividing the makeshift fruit salad before wrapping three of the bowls and walking past the table to the fridge, putting them on the top shelf for a snack at breakfast.

"Can you tell me about the All Blue again?"

Sanji paused, then shut the fridge and returned to the counter for the remaining two bowls, which he carried to the table, sitting across from Luffy and passing him one of the bowls.

"Why? I already told you about it back at the Baratie." He couldn't quite recall how long ago that had been.

Luffy looked thoughtful as he stared into the bowl of fruit and Sanji wondered how often that happened outside of fighting for his nakama.

"Well…when you told me about it before, you looked really happy." Luffy beamed. "I want you to smile like that again, even if you're just repeating what you said before!" 

Sanji blinked in surprise, then looked away, breathing out smoke around his cigarette.

"Alright, I'll tell you."

When he turned his attention back to Luffy, the younger boy was watching him intently, just like when Sanji had first talked about the ocean of miracles. Sanji couldn't stop his lips from stretching into a grin.

"You see, in the All Blue…"

  


Luffy laid atop Merry's head, hands folded beneath his head as he stared up at the darkening skies. He ached from all the burns he'd received. The pirates that the Straw Hat crew had engaged in battle with were a lot stronger than they had anticipated and one had surprised Luffy with a burning cannonball to the gut. They were taken down eventually, of course, but without a medic on board, there was only so much to be done, with an equally banged up Usopp and Sanji working as the "medical team".

"Hey, Luffy, it's time for lunch," Sanji called upon opening the door to the galley, hoping to get a response.

"I'm not hungry," the rubber man replied.

All his nakama turned their attention to him. Usopp opened his mouth to say something, but Sanji interrupted him after one last glance towards the captain.

"Alright. Everyone else, get in the kitchen. Nami-swan, I made you a delectable fruit smoothie, my dear~"

With hearts in his eyes, Sanji led Nami inside first, Zoro and Usopp following behind. Once inside, Sanji's demeanor changed almost instantly, though he was still polite because of the lady present.

"Leave Luffy alone," he said. "I'll talk to him later."

Zoro grunted and sat at the table. Nami and Usopp hesitated, looking ready to protest.

"It's fine, isn't it?" he asked. "Come, let's eat."

After lunch, under Sanji's watchful eyes, Nami went to her room, Usopp got to work continuing minor repairs for the Merry, and Zoro went to the aft of the ship to work out. Sanji re-entered the galley to do the dishes, giving himself time to think about how to confront Luffy. The gomu-gomu man's mood was affecting everyone already, and not positively. After finishing the dishes and putting them away, Sanji dried his hands with a towel before leaving the galley and walking across the deck to the bow of the ship.

"Mind if I join you?"

Luffy didn't say anything, but he moved over a little. Sanji took that as an invitation and climbed onto the sheep figurehead. He sat next to Luffy, staring out to sea at the fading sun as his captain watched the stars come out.

"You know, we're all okay," he started. "Nobody got too badly injured. Except you, of course."

Luffy was quiet for a moment more before whispering, "None of you should've gotten hurt. I started the fight, not them. I just… I thought it'd be fun, to fight another pirate crew. We don't run into a lot of them out here."

_Probably because we're so close to entering the Grand Line,_ Sanji thought.

"We're going to face a lot stronger pirate crews on our journey," Sanji pointed out. "That crew might've been one that tested the Grand Line's waters and discovered that they didn't have what it took. So, in a way, we had them beat right from the beginning. Because once we enter the Grand Line, we're not planning on turning back, are we?" 

Sanji looked over at Luffy, who was looking back at him. A smile tugged at the corner of the captain's lips.

"No, we're not."

Sanji gave an approving nod, which made Luffy smile wider.

"You're not doubting your prowess to become the Pirate King, are you?"

"Of course not!" Luffy sat up, twisting to face Sanji, face alight with glee. "In fact, I want to become the King of the Pirates more than ever! We're so close to the entrance of the Grand Line!"

"We're going to get hurt along this journey, Luffy. We're going to collect scars and lose battles, but that's further incentive to get stronger and fulfill our dreams, right?"

Luffy nodded. "Like with what happened on Clockwork Island."

Sanji smiled. "Exactly." He had quit being quite so bitter about _that_ particular adventure after his late night discussion with Luffy. "So we're in agreement, then."

Luffy tilted his head. "Eh?"

"You are going to bounce back from any fight we get into, whether we win or we lose, and I'm not going to doubt myself, right?"

The captain beamed. "Yep! Shishishi!"

They fell into a more comfortable silence, until Luffy's stomach growled.

"Sanji, I'm hungry…"

Sanji chuckled and lit up a cigarette before standing and jumping from Merry's head to the deck. "Come on, I'll whip you up something."

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: I wrote this a long time (two years) ago, but this is still one of my favorite things I've ever written. _Especially_ since this is before Marineford and Whole Cake Island, where their promises in this story are _really_ tested. :) **


End file.
